Today is the twelfth day of Christmas and tonight is Twelfth Night, traditionally celebrated with parties and feasting. It is the eve of the Epiphany, the day on which Christian myth holds the Magi arrived to give gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the infant Jesus. Because of this it was the custom in medieval times to exchange Christmas presents on that day, and Twelfth Night was the celebration preceding the exchange. Even after the gift exchange moved back to Christmas Day proper in the Renaissance, Twelfth Night continued to be celebrated as the transition between Christmastide and Carnival (which starts tomorrow)…Remember the old Saturnalia inversion of the social order we talked about before? In Christian times this portion of the festivities was shifted to Twelfth Night celebrations. The masters waited on their servants and everyone shared a cake which contained a bean; whoever got the bean became the Lord of Misrule, the ruler of the feast. This went on until midnight, when Christmas ended and the world returned to normal.

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night was specifically written for the holiday in 1602, though it was not publicly performed until Candlemas of that year (February 2nd, 1602). As befitting the occasion, the play is full of drinking, feasting, singing, merriment, silliness, chaos and inversions such as Viola’s disguising herself as a man (such “breeches parts” would later become a staple of Restoration theater) and even subtle breaking of the “fourth wall” (in III, iv Fabian remarks, “If this were play’d upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction“). But the most topsy-turvy character of all is the foolish servant Malvolio, Countess Olivia’s steward, a Puritan who believes it is his place to stop others from having fun (the epigram is spoken to him by another character, Sir Toby Belch). Malvolio is so full of himself that he not only has the nerve to chastise his social superiors (Sir Toby and his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek), but also the egotism upon which their revenge feeds: they send him a faked love-note from his employer asking him to behave in all sorts of absurd ways to supposedly demonstrate his acceptance of her troth. Olivia (who is not in on the joke) believes that Malvolio has gone insane and allows the conspirators to lock him in the cellar. At the end he is released, but storms off vowing “I’ll be reveng’d on the whole pack of you.” (V,i)

Alas, this Twelfth Night of 2012, 410 years later, sees our entire society beset by a whole pack of Malvolios. Because they hate fun and merriment they wish to ban such activities for everybody, usually under the guise of “health”, “law and order” or “helping victims”. But in an inversion which is not at all festive or in the spirit of good fellowship, these modern Malvolios are the ones who forge documents full of lies in order to make their victims seem mentally ill and/or to have them locked up. Alas, this “improbable fiction” is all too real, and because it is we can’t count on a resolution by the end of Act V; as I predicted in my column of January 2nd we’ll eventually be rid of these pompous Puritans, but it will be through our own perseverance rather than the kind intercession of the Great Playwright.

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We won’t win this until WE ourselves (on this side) recognize that the evil that empowers moralists to interfere in our lives is government.

As long as my neighbor pays for my healthcare with his tax dollars – he’s fully empowered by government and within his rights to tell me not to ride a motorcycle – or skydive – or patronize a hooker. As long as tax dollars go to Planned Parenthood – then Pro-Life folks have a say in the debate. As long as tax dollars go to educate the children of illegals – then taxpayers will have a right to moralize a position on it.

Sometimes I think people on our side think we can have our cake and eat it too … nay, nay sweet toad! It doesn’t work that way.

If you turn the US into a “collective” – then everyone in the “collective” has skin in YOUR game – and has every right to provide input to make decisions for YOU. And the way this works is – the ones with the loudest and most articulate voices usually get their way. The “used car salesmen” rule – as they do today … the silver tongued devils who know how to twist an argument.

You have to get their wallet out of the picture – then you can remove their tongues.

It means we’re all going to have to be responsible for ourselves, instead of government – and yeah, that applies to things like welfare, social security, and Medicare. The government should be funded to provide for security of the nation and one or two other things. Only THEN can you chop off the heads of the moralists. I mean sure – we could defeat them politically … become the majority (for how long?) … take their money and tell them to shut their mouths – but …

Exactly. It’s the old parental “as long as I’m paying the bills you follow my rules”. The only way to cut off anyone’s attempts at control is to have NO contact with him, to take NOTHING from him. I refused alimony from my ex-husband for exactly that reason, and a friend of mine is refusing alimony or child support from hers for exactly the same reason. To ask someone else to give one support without an economic exchange (i.e. selling him something in return) is to place him to some degree (however small) in loco parentis over one. And when that “someone” is government, the demands never stop until the one who accepts the support is locked permanently in a nursery.

Yes, this is why those who are on disability are constantly hounded by the government. Yes, they constantly get demands from US government workers to live exactly how they say. They watch their every move as much as possible. They’re watched all the time when the workers aren’t around either (I’m sure they put cameras in all their homes). They really don’t have ANY independence, but for SOME reason if they weren’t on disability they’d have NO independence at all…HHMM. I’m on the FMLA program which has literally saved my job for over 10 years, but they hound me also. I can’t make any decision in my life without them telling me 1st what decision to make. Yes, by choosing to use this program I’m regressing more every day. I just remembered: my pacifiers need to be washed and my nursery needs new paint. I’ve regressed so much under this truly evil government program that I can’t do the 2 above things anymore on my own. Look what accepting the program that’s kept me working and contributing to society has done to me! Something that doesn’t add up, though: if accepting and/or being part of any government program regresses us and it’s designed to make us useless then why in the world did they come up with FMLA? I don’t get that at all! FMLA KEEPS people working. Why would they want that? And why would the government want disabled people to live independently also? HHMM…

I’m on more than one government program myself. And yes, I have to jump through a lot of hoops that somebody with a good solid middle-class career wouldn’t have to. Laura has helped me with paperwork and setting up appointments and such, and she knows this. But how independent would I be without them? I really would be living under somebody else’s roof, and following his or her rules.

And not a one of these programs cares if I eat tofu or Big Macs, or even if I smoke (I don’t, but it’s not against any rules I have to follow).

Yes, recently there have been efforts in places like Florida to do shit like that. They’re not doing it in Texas, at least not yet. I note that

a) those are state, not federal, so “leave it to the states” is hardly a way to increase the odds of greater freedom,

b) they’re not testing for tobacco or Big Macs, which is what I said I didn’t have to follow any rule for,

c) the politicos advocating these measures are the exact same ones who are always crowing about how government is too big, needs to be cut back, etc. In other words, damned hypocrites,

d) these efforts are all fairly recent and reflect the civil war brewing in the Republican Party between corporatists, religious wackadoodles, neocons, and Randroids,

e) the courts are likely to strike this bit of silliness down.

These measure are exceptions, and are appeals to a base that prides itself on hating the poor (which, weirdly enough, overlaps with base who claims to love Jesus — they could stand to read His stand on the poor).

Sailor, you’re pretending (not deliberately, I’m sure; I know you’re too intellectually honest for that) that all such effects must be direct, when you you understand the “slippery slope” as well as I do. Not all controls are directly applied in a clearly visible way; a lot of them are indirect, in the sense that they open the door for government to reach into areas it was previously prohibited to reach. For example, allowing government a say in education gives it the ability to enforce its standards in school lunchrooms, implement “zero tolerance” policies, etc, none of which are directly tied to school financing.

Please realize that without any standards in place (and I’m NOT talking about drug tests here, OK?) there would be HUGE taking advantage of these programs. A BIG factor in this stuff is the disgusting fact that people try to get unemployment that ARE ALREADY working and/or have GOTTEN A JOB and don’t report that to the unemployment office. That’s an outrage. These people don’t care about how they affect others and it’s disgusting. Also, with Social Security disability there’s the problem of some who apply who CAN work some type of job but refuse to out of their own snobbery or whatever sick reason. This is 1 reason why people have to get at least 1 physical and/or mental exam when applying. I’ve known about what you’re talking about above for years, but when you know about these things that doesn’t automatically mean you’re FOR THEM. No one on here is denying what you’re saying about the drug tests, etc., including me. Sometimes where there are standards to weed out the crooks (like the 1’s I described here) that doesn’t automatically mean that ALL standards are bad. Some standards are needed. A question: do you think it’s OK for the people I’ve described above to get these benefits?

Yes, thank you! You’ve had very FEW hoops to jump through, to be honest. You haven’t been asked to get another physical exam for disability in over 20 years. My Dad wasn’t asked to get 1 either during the years he was on disability. I know of others who have never been asked to get a new 1 after the 1 they had to GET disability. I don’t think there’s any contest between you having to live with someone to have any kind of shelter and having disability and Section 8 and living as independently as you can. It’s obvious which is the best for you. Not all help from the government is evil and/or controlling. I’ve been on unemployment a few times (due to being laid off, etc., and other stuff that wasn’t my doing) and it literally kept a roof over my head. Thank God for it! Also, when you ARE working YOU pay into unemployment, literally. So you are getting paid back when you need it. I always find it funny that those who haven’t had to deal with the issue of being born with health problems with no cure (like Sailor B), those who have health problems with no cure because of the actions of another person (my post-traumatic stress disorder) and those who lose their jobs through no fault of their own and other groups think they know how it really is to go through things to keep any kind of independence. Independence doesn’t come as easy to some as to others. Sometimes there’s sacrifices to be made for people to have ANY independence like I described above. Thanks for listening.

Feel free to head off into the desert where you can depend only on your own resources. But most humans are social creatures, and we depend on society.

It’s attitudes like yours that are holding the USA back from having things like national health care. Rather than looking at it as “I’m paying for someone else’s health care, or education”, we should look at it as contributing to a fund, where someone else may be benefiting now, but one that will be there for you when you need it. Of course, we can’t do that because capitalism encourages self-centered greed.

Krulac, you of all people. You’re a professional solider, and you’re paid by the government. Your health care is paid for by the government, which is ultimately people like me. We do this for the service you provide. Do you expect the military to go private, for people to contribute when they want a war? Let’s see how well that works.

No nation would do that in modern times, because “defense is too important.” Well, so is healthcare and education, as most other modern nations acknowledge.

Contributing to society, to a fund which provides a service to all doesn’t make one a dictator. We need to understand that.

Comixchik, I’d be all in favor of those things if (and that’s a mighty big if) they weren’t used to control people. For example, in the United States, public “education” is nothing more than indoctrination for minimum-wage workers. In other countries it’s different, but as I said in my reply to Sailor B they are MUCH smaller than the U.S. A good example of a country on the cusp of too big to make stuff like that work is the U.K…and it shares some of our problems as well. Those like you who are in favor of what might be called “social benefits” should also be staunch federalists, because nearly all of the states ARE small enough to make schemes like that work; unfortunately, they’re trumped by the federal government, which not only overrides their programs but siphons away all available tax dollars which could be used to implement such schemes. The bulk of taxes should be going to the states, with the federal government a few extra percent; instead it’s overwhelmingly the other way.

I’m quite in favor of keeping tax money local. And I don’t agree that only small nations can make it work, although I do agree it’s easier. And in general, the US is too large. I doubt we’ll stay that large, as oil gets more and more expensive and harder to get.

I see our problem more as one of attitude, as I said above. Tooth and claw capitalism encourages us to see any money we pay into public social funds as a loss to us, and not as paying into something that some day we too might need.

YES! THANK YOU! The arrogance of “it’ll never happen to me” is incredible in this area. People think they’ll never get disabled? Never be able to work? Incredible! An example of what can happen to people: my Dad was struck suddenly with rheumatoid arthritis. This is a progressive disease with no cure that over time will lead to you not being able to do much physically. My Dad TRIED MANY TIMES to work. He tried different jobs. He couldn’t physically do any of them including what are called “desk jobs”. He went on Social Security disability in order to live independently. At this time I was just starting out with working and didn’t make much so I couldn’t fully support him. But, I did what I could do (unlike other so-called “family”) with things like running errands for him, etc. There’s many on disability who HAVE TRIED TO WORK and they literally CAN’T. There’s also people who have NO FAMILY and NO FRIENDS who can help them. They’re alone in the world. I’ve met at least 1 person like this. What if they become disabled? There’s also people who are mentally incompetent who are committed by the courts (and the courts in these cases aren’t “out to get” (eyeroll) these people. I’m talking about the 1’s who truly are a danger to society, etc.). What do they do without disability? I know that Social Security disability $’s go to the state mental hospitals for these patients. What are these hospitals supposed to do without these $? The FACT is that there’s going to be people who have tried to work and can’t, the truly mentally incompetent, etc., no matter what government programs are in place. They’re not the only 1’s out there either. If programs are just “cut off” these people and their problems don’t just disappear. It’s hilarious and sad to me these people are NEVER mentioned (in my experience) when all the talk goes on about “just cut off Medicare”, etc. It isn’t that simple.

Money we pay into “public funds” is largely a loss; the majority goes into the pockets of politicians and their cronies, or to programs nobody anywhere near us might conceivably ever “need”, such as military adventures on the other side of the globe. Let the U.S. balance its budget and clean up its act and I might consider, but until then I and tens of millions of others are justified in our attitude toward taxation in this country.

Something I’ve always wondered: those who are against taxes of any kind are you willing to not use the roads that taxes pay for? Not use the post offices which taxes pay for? Not travel on the interstate highway system? Boycott and speak against all travel into space that US government started/funds, etc.? Not use Social Security (I’ve heard over and over the 1 about “I’ll take back the money they stole from me over the years”, but what I’ve never heard about is anyone making the effort while they’re working to keep the $ from being kept out of their paychecks. There’s also never any mention of how the truly disabled that have tried to work and literally can’t keep their independence from this program). This makes me think of the “Unabomber” (Ted Kacyzinski, not sure I spelled that right) and 1 thing I admire about him is he literally practiced what he preached. He truly did live “off the grid” quite a bit. Why do we never hear about the “tens of millions” making efforts to stop Social Security, etc., from being taken out of their paychecks? Maybe I’ve missed something, but in my experience haven’t seen and/or heard a thing about any efforts. 1 reason: it’s easier to just talk and not literally do anything to change anything. It lets you stay in your comfort zone.

Laura, the roads AREN’T being maintained with even a miniscule fragment of the taxes earmarked for them; that’s why bridges are collapsing and our roads are the worst in the developed world. Taxes for highways should be charged directly to highway users in proportion to their use, namely in gasoline (and to a lesser extent vehicle) taxes, not taken out of the general fund. It’s income tax which is direct theft, since it takes money from people for the act of being productive and is therefore regressive. I own more property than most of my readers, yet I would accept an increase in property taxes which was directly tied to services I received and balanced in a decrease in income taxes.

Yes, I know about the state of the roads, bridges, etc., OK? I listen to news all day at work and we’re blessed to have the privelege to wear headphones while we work. But, if there’s no taxes those roads/bridges would be even worse. Is that a solution? A question to all those who think income tax is evil: what are you doing besides talking? Are you doing anything to even try to change this? I don’t agree at all with the actions of those who are in what’s called the “tax honesty” movement, BUT 1 thing I greatly admire about them is that they’re out there DOING and not just talking.

How high would the gas taxes have to be to maintain the roads and bridges? Would you have to already be upper-middle-class to be able to drive? And if so, how do you hold down a job and ever GET into the upper-middle-class?

I agree that the taxes collected often go to advantage whoever gave the iggest campaign contribution last time around, which is why I want public financing of elections. The guy who pays you is your boss, and today’s politicians are payed by corporations, unions, superpacs, and the like. I want them payed by we the people, so that we will be their boss.

That any politician today manages to even keep the people in mind is amazing, and those who do must have amazing character.

When there’s programs that literally do help people and they’re never mentioned on purpose that leads people to think there aren’t any and that’s the result that’s wanted also. This is 1 reason why people need to research all this on their own and look at the WHOLE picture.

Actually, I’ve said several times on here that there ARE rules in many areas of life. What’s hilarious to me is that if constant statements (authority is bad, all politicians are ###*** and many more examples) are contradicted with real life examples and other evidence then that’s always downed with the “rules” talk.

Laura. there are nearly always patterns, rules and trends in human behavior, and always exceptions to those rules. It’s just as much an error to concentrate on rare exceptions as it is to pretend there aren’t any.

Please tell that to a person who has a rare health problem and wants info on it and/or support. Also to a person who has an unusual type of murder case and needs info and/or support. It’s not so “cut and dried” in life. Info about exceptions is literally life-saving to the above groups. There’s others besides them, but I bring these up because I’ve had 1st hand experience with them on the job and off. Yes, it’s an error to say there’s no exceptions also (1 of my “favorites”: the belief that whores are the only 1’s that help disabled men sexually). But, if exceptions are brought up that doesn’t automatically change and/or mean the person bringing them up wants to change a “rule”. An example: the group of women who can have sex without emotional attachment is small. If I say there ARE women who have sex without attachment that doesn’t automatically mean the big group that doesn’t isn’t “real” and/or I’m saying they don’t count, etc. Bringing this info up isn’t to be feared and isn’t automatically a negative either.

There aren’t any positive statements about control freaks, totalitarians or prohibitionists here, either; those people already have plenty of spaces (both online and off) where the sheeple sing their praises, so I feel no pressing need to give them more space here.

Politicians, cops and prosecutors are already worshipped by the media, have their arses licked by most of the public and get special privileges under the law; I hardly think it’s necessary to add one more voice singing their praises, certainly not in the company of so many people who are abused and maltreated by them on a regular basis. You might as well attempt to make “positive statements” about Nazis at a synagogue.

Nobody with a rare disease is helped by your pretending it isn’t rare.-WOW! This could keep me going for DAYS! The warmth, the open-mindedness, the KNOWING EXACTLY what I did on the job when I helped patients over the phone who had rare diseases, who had insurances that not many had, etc., etc. I mean, to know 100% for sure that I pretended to these patients that they didn’t have a rare disease, etc. is just amazing! Actually, I never pretended once that these people had a common disease, insurance, etc., and the ASS-umption that I did is based on no evidence and the ASS-umption that I and others won’t help others in the future like this is based on no evidence also. We actually had MANY patients who had rare diseases, insurance, etc., that were helped greatly. There was never any pretending. I’m going to FLOAT through the next few days from this compliment!

Politicians, cops and prosecutors are already worshipped by the media, have their arses licked by most of the public and get special privileges under the law; I hardly think it’s necessary to add one more voice singing their praises, certainly not in the company of so many people who are abused and maltreated by them on a regular basis. You might as well attempt to make “positive statements” about Nazis at a synagogue.-When all that’s looked up and wanted to be found is the negative that’s all that’s going to be put out. The information about the good cops, politicians and prosecutors is willfully ignored and/or mocked, automatically called lies, etc. This never changes the fact, though, that the good people in these groups do exist, always have and always will.

Medicaid is mostly funded by the states in the US. It’s a program that’s helped many poor and/or disabled people get medical care and prescriptions. Yes, there’s still some problems with it, but overall the program has gotten better over the years. This is 1 example of a program that’s funded mainly by states that’s helped many.

Nobody said that you pretended it wasn’t rare when you were doing referrals. You don’t need to defend yourself against this charge because it wasn’t made.-yes, that specific charge wasn’t made, you’re right. But, it was implied that when when dealing with the rare disease thing (which I did repeatedly on the job) I pretend (i.e., a nicer word for lying) that stuff isn’t rare. I’m defending myself on that 1. It really didn’t happen on the job ever with me. Plus when I’ve talked to people who have an unusual murder case not once have I said: yes, I know of many other MVS with cases like yours. There’s a lot of info out there on your type of case also. The other people who do the same work with MVS don’t do this either (and I hope to never see it). Also, to be told I don’t believe in general rules isn’t accurate at all. The ASS-umption that people don’t when they talk about exception people, those in small groups, etc., is a plain wrong 1 and is part of what’s called the “slippery slope” logical fallacy.

THANK YOU! Yes, if you literally are paid by the government for your job, it’s pretty nervy to say this stuff. Yes, contributing to society doesn’t automatically mean you’re “out to get” everyone and want to literally order everyone around (eyeroll). Sometimes hate for any authority (and there ARE GOOD authority figures in the world that truly care about people and direct them in order to better themselves, etc. An example is great bosses on the job.) can be as paranoid, self-destructive and arrogant as going to the other extreme (wanting to let others run your life in every way).

Speaking of GOOD authority figures (oh my God! The horror! There can’t be any! All authority is evil! Anyone who directs me in any way is “out to get me”, destroy my life, run everything in my life, force me to live their way, etc., etc. They never want any good for me or anyone else. They never help you become a better person, etc. NEVER!) my co-workers and I have been blessed to have 3 in our lives the past few years. We had 3 lady bosses who are amazing people. They truly cared about us as people and truly practiced what they preached at all times. They would say “our doors are always open” and they WERE. Unfortunately, we had a company restructuring the past few months so we’re no longer working under these women. But, they’re still with the company (just in other departments now) and I know they’re keeping up their high standards. I became a better person under their direction and other co-workers did also. We also learned from them (many things). They’re proof that there are sometimes people who do have authority over us (by our choice or not) that help us become better people and produce better on our jobs which in the long run helps society. They helped me and other co-workers in ways besides these also. I could give a lot more examples I’ve experience in life but these 3 women are 1 I think of right off.

Yes, I don’t believe there’s general rules, despite my saying on here and off the Internet that there are in at least a few areas of life. Actually, I’ve stated my belief in absolutes also. An example is my belief in the absolute that murder is wrong unless it’s for true self-defense or in a just war (like World War 2) which I’ve stated on here at least once.

Why is it that the nations where prostitution is legalized or decriminalized manage to have things like universal healthcare and fast trains? How is it that countries with national healthcare and fast trains still have McDonald’s and motorcycles? After decades, why have these things not been “Not Under My Roof”ed out of existence?

Maybe it’s time to look at government not so much as “FIRE BAD!!” but as “Fire is very useful and we’d be much worse off without it, but it’s also dangerous and we need to keep it in check.”

Mostly because they’re small. Most countries that manage to “have it all” are a tiny fraction the size of the US, and even they’re in a bit of economic trouble now that the US is going bust. On top of that, their political systems don’t exclude minority politics as the “two” party US system does.

That having been said, I totally agree with your fire metaphor. I have repeatedly used that EXACT metaphor (or that of radioactive material) to describe government: It’s a useful but very dangerous thing which must be tightly controlled or it gets out of hand and consumes or destroys everything it touches. Any expansion in its area or size should be closely guarded and watched, and the slightest sign of expansion beyond useful limits should be stomped out or forced back within the protective boundary.

“Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is force. And, like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” – George Washington

I suspect that several people have come up with the fiery metaphor independently. I know I heard in on TV in my late twenties or early teens.

I know that I’ve pointed out to people that it only makes sense that Hawaii creates their own building codes, instead of D.C. Hawaii doesn’t have to worry about snow loads, and D.C. might utterly forget to include anything about volcanoes.

It is funny that comedy walks such a fine line between tragedy, especially when we strip away at the comedic characters’ personalities we’ll soon find something revolting about them. Malvolio’s character (almost a play on malevolent?) is the stuffy Puritan who in Shakespeare’s time would have frowned on pleasures such as the theatre and what have you. It would have also been no picnic to live amongst Puritan communities during the increasing sectarianism which boiled over during the civil war.

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